There’s no reason that the government should prevent homosexuals from entering civil marriages because some religions object to the concept, any more than the government should ban atheism because some religions object to it.

Lisa Pampuch

I don’t know who Lisa Pampuch is. There are dozens of her on the Net. I couldn’t find the original source of the quote either, but it’s everywhere. I’m thinking it has something to do with how eminently reasonable it is. Of course, as this Lisa Pampuch points out, reason has little to do with the religious experience.

When asked what he would do if Camping* is wrong again, Rick LaCasse, who witnessed Camping’s 1994 failure, said: “I can’t even think like that. Everything is too positive right now. There’s too little time to think like that.”

UPDATE:This Lisa Pampuch, cited above, is the Lisa Pampuch who has thoughtfully provided links to the original article in the comments. Thanks, Lisa.

*Camping is currently predicting the rapture will occur on May 21, 2011. Obviously, it wasn’t 1994.

Freedom to Marry Week. Get Involved.

(Sometimes the player says the video doesn’t exist. Not true. Try reloading the page. It usually works the second time. Is Vimeo having a hard time keeping up w/ the traffic??) ]]> http://www.hidinginthebackwaters.com/2009/02/12/courage-campaign-fights-ken-starr/feed/ 1 http://www.hidinginthebackwaters.com/2009/02/10/well-ill-be/ http://www.hidinginthebackwaters.com/2009/02/10/well-ill-be/#comments Tue, 10 Feb 2009 15:09:54 +0000 Sean http://www.hidinginthebackwaters.com/?p=490 Governor John Huntsman has come out in favor of civil unions and supports the Common Ground Initiative. A republican. In Utah. Who’d have guessed? I guess miracles haven’t ceased.

Freedom to Marry Week. Get Involved.

Or not. But that’s okay. Jesus doesn’t mind a little dishonesty as long as it’s for a “good cause.”

Expressing an opinion in a free and democratic society is as American as it gets. (Fox News)

What most members of the Mormon church just don’t seem to comprehend is they are not just “expressing an opinion.” They can write letters to the editor till the cows come home. They can stand on the street corner and exhort passers-by to heed their call. They can stand on the roof-tops and shout their message of “the restored gospel” all they want and no one would even care (except perhaps their neighbors). People might complain about the little boys knocking on their doors, but no one is trying to make it illegal.

What they have done in California is not simply express an opinion. They’ve conspired to make their beliefs the law of the land. What Tom Hanks’ comment missed (because he isn’t LDS) and what members of the Mormon church deliberately ignore is Prop 8 is not just un-American. It’s un-Mormon.

The LDS Church has what is known as The 13 Articles of Faith, sort of a Mormon creed originally written down by Joseph Smith, intended to summarize the beliefs of the church. Every good Mormon child has them memorized by the time they are twelve. Article of Faith #11 states

We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.

I wonder if they’ve started teaching the kiddies the 2008 addendum to #11: “…unless you live in a jurisdiction where we have enough political clout to give our beliefs the force of law, in which case we will do everything in our power to make sure you live as we see fit.”

Valerie Mills of Bountiful’s Citizens for Families argued the “collapse of traditional marriage” is leading to high rates of child anxiety and obesity.

Salt Lake Tribune: Legislative panel approves first gay-rights bill

OK. I lied. The collapse of traditional marriage has nothing to do with gay sex, gay marriage or gay rights. It’s about toxic heterosexual couples who lack the maturity and relationship skills to even be in a relationship, much less be a parent or get married. Heterosexuals have done a fine job of demolishing marriage without our help.

Oh, but don’t lets talk about the failings of heterosexuals. Let’s just blame the gays.

To some degree, I don’t get worked up about it because I just can’t. It’s just too upsetting and I don’t want to go around angry all the time. Always in the back of my mind is the thought that were my family living in California, I know exactly how they would vote. It’s also very disturbing and is really a slap in the face to hear blatant and deliberate misinformation coming from someone who should know better. I’m looking at you Thomas Monson. Oh, sure, you and the Twleve have remained largely mum on the subject, leaving most of the talking to a lowly President of the Seventy, but you’re not fooling anyone. Claiming that the church has only donated $250K to passing Prop 8, all the while encouraging individual members to give generously of their time and money is dishonesty worthy of any Pharisee.

As much distance as the Mormon church tries to put between itself and polygamy, it’s own history with marriage is dubious at best. Every argument used today against gay marriage was used in the 1880s against polygamy. Perhaps they can continue to delude themselves they “are not anti-gay. [They are] pro marriage between a man and a woman” because they aren’t advocating seizing the property of GLBT folk or advocating terminating their citizenship. Mormons threw their weight around in California because they could. Mormons have always had a very strong presence in California. You didn’t hear so much about Mormon involvement in Massachusetts, not because the Church wasn’t telling it’s members there the same thing it was telling its members in California, but because Mormons aren’t a power player there.

Mormons, like most religious groups, suffer from unbelievable arrogance. If their actions are divisive and hurtful it’s not because they are assholes. It’s because everyone who disagrees with them is not prepared or ready to hear the “true” message of God. No one seems to have caught on that we all worship a god who is most like ourselves. You worship a God who advocates persecution and arrogance because that’s who you are. It really has nothing to do with some immutable truth. It’s been a while since I read the Doctrine and Covenants, the Mormon scripture from their early history as a church. I seem to remember, however, that God was constantly chastising them for being arrogant and rude to the people around them. We they complained about being driven out of still another town, often as not, his response was, “Well, you asked for it!” Is the Mormon church somehow more true today than it was in 1850? Is that why it’s okay to be a political bully now?

The church at times has preserved that which is immoral and unethical. Called to combat social evils, it has remained silent behind stained-glass windows. … How often the church has been an echo rather than a voice, a taillight behind the Supreme Court rather than a headlight guiding men progressively and decisively to higher levels of understanding.

Dr. Martin Luther King

I’ve finally sat down and watched Four Weddings and a Funeral. You know what? I really liked it. OK, granted. I’m gay. Chick flicks are not exactly foreign territory. And I must admit the whiskey probably has had some influence on my thinking…or at least what passes for thinking when one has consumed as much whiskey as I have…

Apart from being a sappy love story, what I really liked about it was the gay couple. I suppose the best word for it was poignant. I don’t know that D and I will ever get married. For my part: Been there. Done that. D, I think, has marriage bound up with all things religious, which tends to give him the heebie jeebies. Honestly, I cannot blame him.

Spoiler Alert (Surely I’m not the last person to see this movie…)

Nevertheless, married or not, the gay couple in Four Weddings and a Funeral was nice to see. An adorable May to November couple, the funeral was both touching in the expression of love that was given by the surviving partner as is was poignant (do you know how hard it is to spell that word when drunk?)—not only in the fact that they were careful never to appear a couple in public, but also when the surviving husband was introduced as “Gareth’s closest friend” and not even in the course of the funeral proper, but as a preface thereto.

How sad is that? OK, the movie is still 20th Century. And over ten years ago, that was probably an extremely progressive move (even if it was “over there” in liberal, god-forsaken Europe). Still, even now in 21st Century America, homosexuality is still “the love that is only just beginning to dare speak its name.” There are states where heterosexuals do not even have to make a formal declaration of their love. Spend enough time together and it’s a done deal. On the other hand, out of 50 states, only two allow two men to claim the title of husband, as if love and devotion were the purview of human institutions.

Still, married or not, I love D. I know that one should never say never, but at this point in my life I cannot imagine myself ever loving anyone as much as I love my cute Mexican. And you know what? Government sanctioned or not, that should be good enough.

Some of you may be wondering, “How much whiskey has he had?” I’ll tell you. Enough to have a good buzz, but not so much that I can’t type (or at least can’t work the spell checker.)

Macy’s Bold Affirmation of Marriage Equality.

Obama doesn’t support gay marriage because it is not politically expedient to do so. Period. Religion. has. nothing. to. do. with. it. Maybe he figures, “Hey, it worked for Edwards.” Except that Edwards actually does come from a conservative religious background. Obama claims membership in the United Church of Christ which is actually quite gay friendly, and…wait for it…supports gay marriage. It’s hard to imagine a religious body more gay friendly than the United Church of Christ, except maybe the Metropolitan Community Church.

Wanna try again Obama? Oh, and while you’re at it, want to explain how talking out of both sides of your mouth is a “change” from past and current political bullshit?

Religion continues to serve one of its vital functions for society: to provide a screen for individual and institutional bigotry. God said Europeans should “colonize” the rest of the world and convert the colored heathen to the true faith, and if the point of the sword happens to be involved, well, they’re better off dead than living in darkness anyway. God said the institutional, systematic and organized attempts to destroy the culture of native peoples in the western hemisphere, including the forced removal of native children from their homes to be placed in “proper” Christian homes, was necessary for their ultimate salvation. God said black people are cursed and naughty and deserve to be treated like animals and beasts of burden.

This is really the god you believe in and worship and I’m supposed to be impressed?

And just so there is no confusion, Hillary doesn’t get a pass either. It was her darling husband that gave us DOMA and DADT. She’s already on record as having no intention of trying to undo DOMA, and I suspect she has no intention of trying to undo DADT either.